Progressive Assembly Seats Targeted - Dismantling Vote By Mail

Before the Anchorage mayoral runoff ballots had even been counted, Bronson's campaign signaled six Anchorage Assembly seats were coming up in 2022 and shared an ominous goal.

The goal, of course, is likely to disenfranchise voters by dismantling Anchorage's Vote By Mail system, which is regarded as successful, accurate, and secure. Arguably, Bronson's intention to rid municipal voters of a vote by mail system designed to increase voter turnout is a move to suppress the voices of those the vote by mail system benefits the most. Bronson's intentions, however, are not all that surprising in light of the incoming mayors' purported 'past' views of the 2020 presidential election.

But long before Bronson ever signaled his ill intentions, another group of individuals aligned with Bronson's candidacy for mayor had similar ideas.

Alaskans For Open Meetings (AFOM), whose current Board of Directors includes former Alaska GOP Vice-Chair Frank McQuery, Barry Abrisror, two-time assembly candidate loser Christine Hill, former Alaska Lt. Governor Craig Campbell, Ian Rose, Kristine Stoehner, and John Stoehner, previously signaled the targeting of multiple Progressive Anchorage Assembly seats in 2022 and 2023, even as the group filed a lawsuit against the Anchorage Municipal Assembly.

The group argued before Superior Court Judge Una Gandbhir last year that she should pause all legislation passed by the Anchorage Assembly during Anchorage's monthlong shutdown, even as the public was permitted to provide public testimony via email and phone. Anchorage Assembly Chair Felix Rivera, who was targeted for recall last year, is a named defendant in the lawsuit.

Gandbhir denied AFOM's request calling it an "extraordinary remedy," and it seems likely the lawsuit, which is still coursing through the court system, will fail.

Filing lawsuits against the Progressive Anchorage Municipal Assembly is just one act of AFOM. Last year the group telegraphed, perhaps...their intention to support recall efforts and attempts to replace Progressive Anchorage Assembly members. Noticeably absent from AFOM's recall and replace graphics is Eagle River Assemblywoman Jamie Allard.

According to unofficial election results, Bronson will become Anchorage's next mayor. Still, by his relatively slim margin of victory, it remains unclear whether Anchorage voters will be able to stomach such a polarizing political move, perhaps motivated by a belief enshrined in an election fraud conspiracy theory.